Dessert - Tie Dye Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I received the new issue of that cooking magazine I mentioned before: the one from Betty Crocker where they send a new cookbook full of recipe-cards all fitting a theme. I generally end up making at least one thing from each issue, and this one was no exception. (In case you're interested, the title of the newest booklet is "Best Cupcakes & Cakes".)

In fact, I was snared immediately by the cover photo of these tie dye cupcakes. They were beautiful, gorgeously colored cupcakes. They reminded me of spring, Easter eggs, and all things bright and cheery. And of course, they are cupcakes so of course they would be yummy.

The cake and frosting are actually from containers, so no real measuring or anything that way. The time consuming part comes in the form of the details of creating the tie dye style cake. To make the cake look as gorgeous as it does, you need to tint 6 bowls of batter, then spoon a bit of each color into each muffin tin.

Then, to frost, you need to tint 3 bowls of frosting and pipe them using an icing bag. Not a big deal, however if you are like me and totally suck at using an icing bag, it becomes a problem. It went well this time, with the exception of getting frosting everywhere!! At least the cupcakes look nice!

These cupcakes also got me thinking about variations for certain events. It would be really cool to try these with colors for different holidays, or even with batters of two different flavors! I am anxious to try more versions of these in the future.

I think the only thing I would do differently with these cupcakes would be to get some higher quality food color. I used the gel food color from the grocery store, but I have a feeling that the food color from a professional baking shop would make the cupcakes way more vibrant.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Line muffin pans with cupcake liners (line 24, but be advised the batch I made yielded only 19).Make cake mix as directed.

Divide batter into 6 bowls (I think the ratio is about 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon or two per bowl), then tint the separate batters the following colors: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.

Working in rainbow order, spoon 1 teaspoon of the first color into each cup. Repeat with additional colors, layering but not mixing the colors. Each cup will end up about 1/2 full.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes then remove to cooling rack and cool completely.

Divide frosting into 3 bowls and tint one red, one yellow, and one blue. Spoon each color into an icing bag fitted with a small star tip, one spoonful at a time and alternating colors around the bag. Squeeze bag into a bowl until frosting comes out tri-colored. Apply frosting in a swirl fashion to tops of cupcakes, and enjoy!